1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to novel gaming devices, novel gaming processes and novel games wherein an event after the play of a first gaming segment, a bonus segment is entered where multiplying factors may be encountered.
2. Background of the Art
Games of chance have been enjoyed by people for thousands of years and have enjoyed increased and widespread popularity in recent times. As with most forms of entertainment, players enjoy playing a wide variety of games and new games. Playing new games adds to the excitement of xe2x80x9cgaming.xe2x80x9d As is well known in the art and as used herein, the term xe2x80x9cgamingxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cgaming devicesxe2x80x9d are used to indicate that some form of wagering is involved, and that players must make wagers of value, whether actual currency or some equivalent of value, e.g., token or credit.
One popular game of chance is the slot machine. Conventionally, a slot machine is configured for a player to wager something of value, e.g., currency, house token, established credit or other representation of currency or credit. After the wager has been made, the player activates the slot machine to cause a random event to occur. The player wagers that particular random events will occur that will return value to the player. A standard device causes a plurality of reels to spin and ultimately stop, displaying a random combination of some form of indicia, for example, numbers or symbols. If this display contains one of a preselected plurality of winning combinations, the machine releases money into a payout chute or increments a credit meter by the amount won by the player. For example, if a player initially wagered two coins of a specific denomination and that player achieved a payout, that player may receive the same number or multiples of the wager amount in coins of the same denomination as wagered.
There are many different formats for generating the random display of events that can occur to determine payouts in wagering devices. The standard or original format was the use of three reels with symbols distributed over the face of the wheel. When the three reels were spun, they would eventually each stop in turn, displaying a combination of three three symbols (e.g., with three wheels and the use of a single payout line as a row in the middle of the area where the symbols are displayed. By appropriately distributing and varying the symbols on each of the reels, the random occurrence of predetermined winning combinations can be provided in mathematically predetermined probabilities. By clearly providing for specific probabilities for each of the preselected winning outcomes, precise odds that would control the amount of the payout for any particular combination and the percentage return on wagers for the house could be readily controlled.
Other formats of gaming apparatus that have developed in a progression from the pure slot machine with three reels have dramatically increased with the development of video gaming apparatus. Rather than have only mechanical elements such as wheels or reels that turn and stop to randomly display symbols, video gaming apparatus and the rapidly increasing sophistication in hardware and software have enabled an explosion of new and exciting gaming apparatus. The earlier video apparatus merely imitated or simulated the mechanical slot games in the belief that players would want to play only the same games. Early video games therefore were simulated slot machines. The use of video gaming apparatus to play new games such as draw poker and Keno broke the ground for the realization that there were many untapped formats for gaming apparatus. Now casinos may have hundreds of different types of gaming apparatus with an equal number of significant differences in play. The apparatus may vary from traditional three reel slot machines with a single payout line, video simulations of three reel video slot machines, to five reel, five column simulated slot machines with a choice of twenty or more distinct paylines, including randomly placed lines, scatter pays, or single image payouts. In addition to the variation in formats for the play of games, bonus plays, bonus awards, and progressive jackpots have been introduced with great success. The bonuses may be associated with the play of games that are quite distinct from the play of the original game, such as the video display of a horse race with xe2x80x98betsxe2x80x99 on the individual horses randomly assigned to players that qualify for a bonus, the spinning of a random wheel with fixed amounts of a bonus payout on the wheel (or simulation thereof), or attempting to select a random card that is of higher value than a card exposed on behalf of a virtual xe2x80x9cdealer.xe2x80x9d
Examples of such gaming apparatus with a distinct bonus feature includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874; 5,848,932; 5,836,041; U.K. Patent Nos. 2 201 821 A; 2 202 984 A; and 2 072 395A; and German Patent DE 40 14 477 A1. Each of these patents differ in fairly subtle ways as to the manner in which the bonus round is played. British patent 2 201 821 A and DE 37 00 861 A1 describe a gaming apparatus in which after a winning outcome is first achieved in a reel-type gaming segment, a second segment is engaged to determine the amount of money or extra games awarded. The second segment gaming play involves a spinning wheel with awards listed thereon (e.g., the number of coins or number of extra plays) and a spinning arrow that will point to segments of the wheel with the values of the awards thereon. A player will press a stop button and the arrow will point to one of the values. The specification indicates both that there is a level of skill possibly involved in the stopping of the wheel and the arrow(s), and also that an associated computer operates the random selection of the rotatable numbers and determines the results in the additional winning game, which indicates some level of random selection in the second gaming segment.
U.K. Patent No. 2 202 984 A describes a slot machine in which when a player has not won a prize in the basic game (that in itself is a randomly determined event), there is the possibility of winning a prize in a complementary game of chance, such as a lottery where numbered balls are removed from a rotating drum device.
U.K. Patent No. 2 072 395 A describes a gaming or amusement machine having a spinning reel device and a video screen on which a video game may be displayed. A play on the video game may be an award for winning events on the reels.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874 and 5,848,932 describe a gaming device comprising: a first, standard gaming unit for displaying a randomly selected combination of indicia, said displayed indicia selected from the group consisting of reels, indicia of reels, indicia of playing cards, and combinations thereof; means for generating at least one signal corresponding to at least one select display of indicia by said first, standard gaming unit; means for providing at least one discernible indicia of a mechanical bonus indicator, said discernible indicia indicating at least one of a plurality of possible bonuses, wherein said providing means is operatively connected to said first, standard gaming unit and becomes actuatable in response to said signal. In effect, the second gaming event simulates a mechanical bonus indicator such as a roulette wheel or wheel with a pointing element.
Since it is desirable to offer players games which they have not played before, it would be desirable to provide new games with new additional opportunities to receive winning payouts.
A game, gaming process and gaming apparatus of the invention provides a first gaming segment in which after a player provides an initial wager, randomly selected events provide a first distribution of symbols that are considered to determine if a defining event occurs, such as a predetermined arrangement, predetermined order, predetermined number of preselected symbols located anywhere on the display, or predetermined combination of symbols on a pay line, for example, occurs. Upon the occurrence of a defining event, a player wins a predetermined amount for the event that he can carry into a bonus event or so that the player can carry the initial wager into a bonus event. The bonus event comprises at least one gaming segment, at least two gaming segments, or a series of at least two related gaming play segments that are substantively different from the first gaming segment. At least one of the second gaming segments comprises a display of multiple panels, such as frames within one or more video monitors, that display symbols, such as multiplication factors. The symbols or factors within each frame change over time, either randomly or in sequence. If the game is a multiple bonus segment game, different symbols or factors appear within at least some of the frames or certain symbols appear at a different frequency during subsequent bonus segments. At least one highlighting feature, such as increased or decreased light intensity of the frames optionally occurs during the time when the symbols or factors are changing. The random selection may also occur without any highlighting so that their selection has no visual imagery except for the conclusion. A player may activate a stop button to halt both the changing of symbols or factors within a frame and stop the highlighting feature so that at least one frame is highlighted. The highlighted frame presents a multiplication factor that is applied to the wager or the amount awarded from the occurrence of the predetermined event in the first play segment. The result of the multiplication of the initial wager or the amount awarded is then preferably carried forward into at least one more (and preferably two more) second gaming segments that include a multiplier.
The first segment of the gaming device of the present invention is preferably a video simulation of a five reel slot game. The game display is five reels wide, and three symbols high, displaying a total of fifteen symbols per round of play. The first segment preferably pays for combinations of symbols occurring on one or more pay lines that can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal or irregularly shaped. Preferably, the occurrence of a minimum number of a single predefined xe2x80x9ctriggerxe2x80x9d symbol(s) appearing anywhere on the screen display pays a payout as a scatter pay and also triggers the bonus event.